Paul charles dame and leon prud hon



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL CHARLES DAME AND LEON PRUDHON, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

METHOD OFMAKING ARTIFICIAL WHALEBONE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 501,222, dated July 11,1893.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, PAUL CHARLES DAME and LEON PRUDHON, citizens of theFrench Republic, residing at Paris, France, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Methods of Making Artificial WVhalebone, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention has been patented in France June 25, 1892, No. 222,59i,and in Belgium June 27, 1892, No. 100,292.

Although it is possible by our process to manufacture whalebone withevery albuminous animal matter either filamentoid or horny, We prefertaking horse hair or animal hair to make the same.

We proceed as follows: We take horse hair, well Washed and free of allfatty substances and we dip it in a more or less concentrated bath oflime and potash consisting generally of two parts of potash, one part oflime and one part of water, that weight being very convenient. When thebath is hot it attacks the hair quickly, when it is cold or lessconcentrated its action is slower. Under this action every hair isattacked at its periphery; sulphide of potassium, sulphide of calcium,phosphate of potassium, phosphate of lime and proteine are formed.Thehorse' hair becomes soft. As soon as the action is deemed to besuflicient the horse hair is taken out and plunged into a tub of runningwater, by this process it is freed of the excess of lime, of potash andof the soluble salts which have been formed and there remains around thesame, proteine in solution in an alkaline liquid. The hair is thenimmersed in diluted acetic acid which causes acetate of potash andacetate of lime, which precipitate to the bottom, and as the aceticacid-precipitates the proteine instantaneously the latter is fixed roundeach hair. The sheets of hair thus obtained, the hairs being arrangedparallel or not, are then placed, after a previous drying of more orless duration, in a mold; a convenient number of the same aresuperimposed, according to the thickness which is requiredApplicatfnafiled November 18. 1892. Serial No. 462,445. (No specimens.)Patented inFrance-Tune 25,1892, No.222,594,andin 4 Belgium June 27,1892,1Io. 190,292. I

for the whalebone, they are then submitted to a strong hydraulicpressure varying between two hundredgmd two hundred and eighty kilogramsper square centimeter and to a rolling between cylinders, heatedaccording to the required degree. They are afterward dried underpressure in adrying chamber and the whale bone is formed which isidentical with the natural bone produced by the animal; the compressionand the drying can take place simultaneously by means of a hydraulicpress adapted for that purpose. It is also possible to proceed byletting the prepared horse hairs dry completely and then heating them toa degree of temperature where the proteins softens and causes thesoldering of the hairs.

The hairs can be prepared in a string or not, but the best way is toarrange them parallel and in the shape of a sheet, in a frame by whichtheir extremities are kept well pressed. These sheets we superimpose theone above the other in the molds, while the hair is still soft,in orderto obtain the desired thickness of the whale bone.

The horse hairs or other hairs can be of any nature, of any productionand of any color; by mixing the tints conveniently, we obtain not onlythe quality of homogeneity and elasticity, but even the appearance ofthe natural whale bone. We can even proceed by the indicated means withhorn and wool.

We claim- The herein described process of forming artificial whale bonefrom animal hair consisting in subjecting the same to a softening baththen immersing the material in a bath of acetic acid and finallysubjecting the mass to pressure, substantially as described.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of twowitnesses.

PAUL CHARLES DAME. LEON PRUDHON.

Witnesses:

RoB'r. M. Hoorna, CH. CASALONGA.

